I Love Atlus

I know I post a lot about the Final Fantasy series, but that's because they were my first jRPGs. Times have changed however, and a new love has stolen my heart. It really wasn't expected either, it seems like just yesterday I took the plunge.

Back about two years ago I went on a game buying spree, mostly for rarer PS2 games. I had been told good buys were Atlus games, as they tend to "disappear" after a few months only to be seen on eBay for two times market value. Naturally, I picked up both Digital Devil Saga games, Nocturne, the first Devil Summoner and Persona 3 for around $200. The one that caught my interest the most at the time was Persona 3, but I would soon quit due to the unwieldiness of your party's AI. I was really just sort of turned off and had decided that I would just shelf them and resell them in a few years.

Then, a couple months later, after I had triumphed over Mistwalker's Lost Odyssey, my hunger for jRPGs just couldn't be slaked. I needed something difficult, and fast. The first place I looked was Dragon Quest VIII, which I soon shelved about 4 hours later because it was neither difficult nor fast. It was at this moment that I had remembered that I had barely touched my Megaten collection. I wasn't really sure where to start as I hadn't heard much about any of them other than certain reviewers lauding over most of the series.


Nocturne was the first game from those that really hit the spot that I was looking to fill. The combat was strategic, yet simple and the bosses were mostly brutal, but in a way that if you used your head, you could defeat them without too many tears. There were a fe exceptions like the Matador of the Trumpeter, who in a way were a little out of the player's league at the point they're battled, but once I figure out the tactic that worked for me, they became some of my most fond victories in all of gaming.



The fusion system is what really drew me into the game though. Simple on the outside, combine two demons to get a stronger demon with some of the abilities of it's predecessor, certain combinations will always hold true to bring out your desired demons. At first glance, I assumed that everything was randomly determined by the demons levels and yours to decide on what you would get, but things like the two families play a huge role. There are also high level, secret fusions that you can get, my favorite involving fusing two greater Divine demons with a Tyrant to obtain the highest Divine demon. I think the fusion chart posted above will go a little deeper into how complex the whole process is.

Maybe once I can articulate on why I found the games so great, I'll go into further details, but that day isn't today. In the mean time, Peace Out!